Esther Barnes
English Theme
November 14, 1932
No, these scars and scratches on my hands aren’t results of the war, but are caused from friendly battles with none other than Jimmie herself. Our most recent struggle occurred Saturday. Jimmie made up her mind that she wanted the dust-cloth which I was using. Everything progressed very well until the time came to dust the chairs and the legs of the dining-room table. Now was Jimmie’s chance. She backed up and with a flying tackle she seized the loose end of the cloth. This would have been fine if she hadn’t mistaken my arm as a dust-cloth also. A real battle was staged. She was determined that she would have that cloth, or else prevent my using it. She succeeded in doing both. I gave up the attempt to dust and just sat and held one end of the cloth. She, on the other end, was violently shaking it back and forth, growling and fussing at me all the while. This was too much for the dust-rag so it had to split. After ten or fifteen minutes of this we had six or seven cloths, ranging in size from a mere string to a piece at least six inches long and three inches wide. But Jimmie was happy. She had succeeded in accomplishing what she had made up her mind to do. She was completely exhausted and so was I. Jimmie had to have a drink of water; then she promptly went to sleep.
She usually sits on the back of a chair in the living-room and watches her domain. As long as things are peaceful she is quiet, but just the minute a dog comes in sight she starts a racket. She barks and fusses to be allowed to go outside. She has to be watched rather closely to prevent her encountering the police dog. She’d attempt to fight and would only be chewed up and spit out.
If you could only see her now. She’s all curled up in the big chair, one ear cocked, and her eyes half open. Oh, my, but she certainly looks nonchalant. She’s pretending to be fast asleep, but she can’t fool me. She’s just conceited enough and intelligent enough to know that she is the subject being discussed. Call her, and she leisurely raises up, yawns, scratches her ear, and ambles across the room. “Well, I’m waiting. Did you want something?”
Teacher’s comment: S